


Disconnected

by just_your_biology



Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Angst, Body Swap AU, basically hera and eiffel switch body's so then everything's crazy, not really canon compliant but hush, set somewhere in late season two-ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 20:21:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15008678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_your_biology/pseuds/just_your_biology





	Disconnected

When she regains consciousness, everything is wrong. She is too small, too confined, trapped. Her brain is too small, too limited. Everything is too quiet. She reaches for a diagnostic, something to explain this horror, _fix_ it, but there’s nothing there.

She only has access to one camera. Well, two, but they’re linked. When she opens their lenses, everything is distorted, from the wrong perspective, out of order. She sees Officer Eiffel’s quarters, his clothes and tech floating all over, his portable recorder nearby. But she’s not seeing it from any of the cameras in any of the corners. She’s seeing it from halfway down the wall, through a slightly blurry camera, as if from Eiffel’s bunk. Then the realization sets in, cold and heavy and sudden. She’s seeing this as Eiffel.

And that’s when the screaming starts.

__

When an alarm wakes Renee Minkowski up, unfortunately it isn’t the one set for 5:00 on the side of her bunk. It’s the station alarm systems, and it’s not just going off, it’s blaring. Very, very loudly, accompanied by flashing red lights and screams that must be Hera’s. Minkowski is out of bed in a second, pulling on her jacket and grabbing a gun that had been floating by.

“What is it?” Minkowski demands of the speakers, “Hera, what’s gone wrong?”

But the voice that responds, though in the same tone and quality, has a different inflection than Hera’s would. “Commander,” the voice gasps “commander, get me out of here.”

Minkowski spins around, wholly unsure of what is going on. The alarms continue to go off, but in the background, she can hear another voice screaming. Eiffel’s.

She bursts out of her quarters and is down the hall. Yes, that sound is definitely coming from Eiffel’s room. But the voice over the intercom is taking loud, slow breaths, gasps, and there’s not much room to think.

Minkowski’s been here before, though. She can handle a chaotic situation.

When she opens the unlocked door to Eiffel’s quarters, Minkowski sees Eiffel in the middle of the room, wearing only his boxers and a T-shirt, shrieking his head off.

“Eiffel!” She yells, “Eiffel, what’s wrong?” But this only seems to increase his distress. There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with him, not outwardly, but in Minkowski’s experience, that may only make things worse.

The flashing lights flicker once more, then stop. The intercom is still freaking out, breathing ragged and occasional shrieks, but something about it has slowed down.

Minkowski gets in front of Eiffel, forces him to look right into her eyes. She tries to put her hands on his shoulders, but he only shrinks back, so she stops.

“Breathe.” Minkowski says. She resists the urge to take hold of his face, putting her hands a few inches away on either side of it instead. “Calm down, Eiffel. Just breathe.”

He obeys, but jerkily, eyes flicking around the room, as if searching for a way out.

When Eiffel’s eyes are less wild, and the screams have fully subsided into heavy breaths, Minkowski lets her hands drop. “Okay,” she says. “Okay. Now you have to tell me what the hell is going on here.”

“You-you look,” Eiffel says, his inflection also strange and unlike himself “sh-shorter in per/son.”

Before Minkowski can react to this weird-ass statement, the door to the room opens again. Captain Lovelace comes in, a worried expression on her face. Normally, Minkowski would be annoyed to see her, but right now she doesn’t have the energy.

“Minkowski.” Lovelace says. “I think we have a problem.”

“You think?” Minkowski says, gesturing at Eiffel, who, for his part, is staring wide-eyed at Lovelace. “Any idea of what that would be?”

“Captain Lovelace,” Eiffel says, as if he’s not sure she’s real. Alright, something is definitely wrong here.

Lovelace only spares a glance for Eiffel. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” she says, sounding so calm it makes Minkowski grit her teeth. “I don’t think Hera’s running the station anymore.”

“What?” Minkowski says. She _really_ isn’t in the mood for supernatural phenomena or a psychological prank from Command today. “Then what the hell happened to her? Who is _that_?” She points up at the nearest speaker. The breathing has grown faster since Lovelace’s last statement.

“Minkowski, has there been any weird supernatural activity while you’ve been here?”

“Super-“ Minkowski begins, “supernatural activity? That’s not really a casual question, is it, Lovelace?”

“It’s not.” The captain says, again, far too calm. “So what’s your answer?”

“Yeah,” Minkowski says slowly, to the woman who had seemed to have simply stopped existing for three years. “Yeah, there’s been some weird stuff.”

Before Captain Lovelace can continue today's conspiracy theory, a hacking sound comes from Eiffel’s direction. Minkowski turns, expecting some terrible Decima attack, or at least the plant monster forcing its way into the room. Instead, Eiffel is laughing. Choppy, hacking laughs that make him double over in the air. It’s not a sound she’s ever heard him make before, not like this.

“Officer Eiffel?” Minkowski says, wary.

“Ok-kay,” Eiffel said, straightening up a moment later. His face is scrunched up in annoyance. Or pain, it’s hard to tell. Either way, Lovelace keeps adjusting her fingers on the gun she’s holding, and Minkowski considers maybe grabbing Hilbert from the observatory if things take a turn for the worse. Eiffel is obviously in pain, and last time she checked, he doesn't stutter.

“So,” says Eiffel, “as it turns out, I r-really don’t want to be human. How do you- do you guys live with so little inform/ation?”

Minkowski looks at Lovelace, who looks back, seemingly just as stunned.

It's Lovelace who says, tentatively, "Hera?"

The person who looks just like Eiffel gives a pained grin. “That’s m-me,” she says.


End file.
